1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to techniques for the measurement of radar cross sections and in particular relates to the measurement of the effectiveness of gap filler materials and treatments used in radar cross section reduction (RCSR) applications.
2. Background of the Invention
Reducing the radar cross section of military planes and other military equipment has become an important task in the design, manufacturing and repair of such equipment. Conventional RCSR techniques have required the use of anechoic facilities in which the entire piece of equipment was illuminated with a planar wavefront in order to determine the radar cross section.
Such techniques are not well suited for use in measuring the small changes in radar cross section resulting from modern RCSR enhancements techniques such as the use of gap filler materials. Although the overall RCSR improvement from such enhancement techniques is substantial, it has conventionally been difficult to obtain even qualitative measurements of the effectiveness of particular techniques. What is needed is a convenient technique for measuring the RCSR effectiveness of gap filler materials both for the design and development of stealth equipment as well as for the repair and maintenance thereof.